How to Survive in a Good Small Guild - Chapter 38

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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How to Survive in a Good Small-Scale Guild
Chapter 38
“Susanna, do you have a moment for a quick word?”
“W-why?”
At the mention of an interview, Susanna flinched as if the word itself had triggered some buried trauma. I gestured to her with a smile, silently beckoning her to follow.
As we made our way to the reception room, she wore the tight expression of someone bracing for bad news, stealing glances at me with evident anxiety.
“Is there… is there something about my work that’s bothering you?”
“No, nothing like that.”
“You’re not firing me, are you?”
“Not at all. I just think there’s something we need to settle between us.”
Now that I was Guild Master, this was an issue I couldn’t avoid addressing.
“You made quite a bit of money writing essays about Guild work, didn’t you?”
“W-well, not *that* much money… but yes, I did earn a decent sum…”
“Back then, I wasn’t Guild Master yet, and now that the Guild’s name has changed, it’s not really a major problem. It was only minor infidelity requests anyway, and those can be denied if pressed. But things are different now.”
“Pardon?”
“We’re working with nobility now. If information about them leaks out through your essays, wouldn’t that be troublesome?”
Exactly. I needed to stop Susanna from turning Guild work into essay material.
But if I simply forbade it, Susanna might leave the Guild altogether. Essay writing was nearly as important to her professional livelihood as Guild work itself.
“But I already have a contract for my next piece? I can’t break a contract…”
“And the money from essays is certainly appealing, so you wouldn’t want to give that up either.”
“Yes, so couldn’t you just let me continue with my essays?”
“Susanna, I’m afraid you can’t write about Guild commissions as essays anymore. But I have a different idea for you instead.”
I decided to dangle a tempting alternative in front of her.
“That next contract of yours—the content hasn’t been decided yet, has it?”
“No, they just gave me an advance and locked in the contract, but the actual content is still open…”
“Then what if, instead of writing about commissions, you wrote about the people you’ve met here at the Guild?”
“People?”
“The problematic coworkers and supervisors we’ve encountered.”
At those words, Susanna’s eyes widened as if something had clicked. She was probably picturing that passionate problem-coworker, the mad stickler of a Guild Master, Gerick with his tearful victim act and hasty resignation, Christine with her scheming—the whole cast of chaos.
“Actually, that… that would be worth reading. Oh, I already have a title!”
Susanna cried out with the fervor of sudden inspiration.
“<Even When My Coworkers Gnaw Away at My Self-Esteem, I Still Show Up to Work Today>! Oh, that’s perfect!”
“Congratulations, Susanna. You’ve found your next idea.”
“I need to start writing this. Yes, and I’ll really embellish Gerick’s actions, turn him into a villain of epic proportions…”
Fortunately, it seemed the Guild’s actual commission details wouldn’t leak into any essays. Susanna was practically writing fiction at this point. Another problem solved.
Now then, there was a third task for my Guild reform agenda…
‘I need to make this a real Information Guild now.’
I couldn’t rely forever on my knowledge of the original work to cut corners. Like any proper Information Guild, we needed actual information sources.
“Usually, how do Information Guilds form partnerships?”
As I pondered this, Morian—who’d transferred here from another Information Guild—drifted over smoothly.
“Do you need my input?”
“Yes, Morian! Tell me what you know!”
“Well, an Information Guild operates in that precarious space between legality and illegality.”
“So we should partner with illegal organizations…?”
“That would be unjust. We could face divine retribution from the Crown.”
Hearing Sedrick interject with that reminder brought me back to reality. Right—one misstep and I could end up in prison, just like in the original story.
“At my previous Guild, we cooperated with retired security personnel and knights.”
“Ah, retired public authority figures…”
But then we’d have no real distinction from other Information Guilds. Was there information only we could gather?
When I voiced that concern aloud, Sedrick paused thoughtfully before speaking.
“It would be best to partner with places where noble information naturally accumulates. For example, merchants at shops the nobility frequently visit.”
“Ah yes, they’d overhear plenty of noble conversations. But what incentive would they have to risk working with us?”
“We provide them with equally valuable information. Since merchants are driven by profit, we simply exchange information that meets that threshold.”
“What sort of information would be useful to them…?”
“I have some ideas.”
Sedrick spoke with such confidence that I decided to trust his judgment for now.
So I’d tentatively add merchants from salons frequented by nobility to our list of potential partners…
“I have an idea too!”
“Yes, Susanna?”
“I used to be active in a theater actor’s fan club, and I’ve never seen information spread as quickly anywhere else. It’s not about nobility per se, but all celebrity gossip flows through there—everything.”
“Ah, an actor fan club.”
Because I retained memories of my past life, I already knew how swift fan club networks could be. Susanna’s opinion was worth hearing.
“We’ve covered the nobility and public figures, so the last piece is gathering information among commoners….”
“Civil Service Exam study groups are quite useful for that.”
“Civil Service Exam study groups?”
I tilted my head at the unexpected suggestion, and Morian elaborated.
“Yes, I once studied for the Imperial Civil Service Examination myself. It’s the test to become a palace administrator.”
“I see….”
So this world had such a thing too.
“Many Civil Service Exam Candidates live in District 8, where they study together and exchange information.”
“But surely only exam-related information circulates there?”
“That’s not entirely true. There are Failed Civil Service Exam Candidates, you see. They’ve grown weary of studying and have become collectors of all sorts of information.”
“Ah, Failed Civil Service Exam Candidates….”
“Moreover, since housing there is cheap, the conditions are poor and residents live packed quite tightly, so information circulates at a remarkable speed.”
Damn it, worse than Morian’s own place? Somehow that made me feel sad.
After hearing their explanation, I reached a conclusion.
“Then let’s split up and approach these three groups to request their cooperation. We’ll disperse to each group you mentioned, but since the merchant at the noble salon seems the most difficult, I’ll go there with Sedrick.”
“Manager Sedrick, what a fortunate opportunity. Congratulations.”
“Deputy Morian, that’s not quite….”
Sedrick and Morian exchanged a conversation only the two of them understood. They seemed to have grown close rather quickly, probably because they were the same gender.
“Then let’s move together.”
***
Sedrick turned out to know the lives of the nobility quite well. He led me toward the District 1 streets where the noble salons clustered—a place I had previously been too intimidated to even approach, daunted by its grandeur.
“Rather than the most famous shop here, it would be better to visit the perennial second-place salon. They need an opportunity to rise.”
“That’s a good idea.”
I followed Sedrick’s guidance and pushed open the door of the place marked “Muzik Salon.”
Because we were dressed as ordinary office workers, the employee at the entrance seemed to take us for delivery company staff.
“Might we see the director or the madam?”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No, but we’ve come with a good proposal.”
Wait, this sounds a bit sketchy. Even as I spoke the words and felt bewildered at my own phrasing, Sedrick interjected.
“We’re here to see Madam Ariana.”
“How did you know that name….”
The employee’s face shifted to confusion, and they led us to a waiting room.
“Please wait here for a moment.”
“Manager Sedrick, what’s going on?”
He seemed to have leveraged information he possessed. Sedrick shrugged as if it were nothing.
“The owner of this salon is known by a different name. But I know the owner’s true name. …I learned it at my previous company.”
“Your previous company? You said it was something like a call center?”
“That’s… someone let it slip by accident.”
“Ah.”
That’s how call centers always work. Ten minutes into a call and you somehow know where the person lives, their family relationships, their pets, their background—yet you have no idea what their name is or why they called.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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